270 Deaths Foretold - International Independent Commission of Inquiry on the Brumadinho Dam Collapse

International Commission for Labor Rights has just released 270 DEATHS FORETOLD - Report of the International Independent Commission of Inquiry on the Impact of the January 25, 2019 Brumadinho Dam Collapse.

The six-member Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Impact of the Brumadinho Dam Collapse made an urgent visit to Brazil in late July 2019. The Commission, a global group of human rights and health and safety experts, found after four days of hearings that these individuals were subject to an environmental and human “atrocity.”

Community members and workers were not so much killed and/or traumatized by a wall of iron ore tailings as by a culture of corporate non-compliance, cost-cutting and concealment.

The Commission selected a title appropriate to the gravity of human failure in this catastrophe: “270 Deaths Foretold.”

The Commission’s report calls on state and federal governments and the judiciary in Brazil to apply human rights principles to help deliver desperately-needed justice to the Vale victims.

The report includes original testimony from a broad cross-section of communities affected by the dam collapse, including the perspectives of a leading Catholic bishop, family members, social movement leaders, Pataxó-Hã-Hã-Hãe indigenous community representatives, and union representatives as well as meetings with state legislative investigators, a labor prosecutor, and federal and state legislators.

The Commission calls for full consideration of all prosecutorial options against what it calls the environmental and human “atrocity” of this dam collapse.

The Commission further warns of the dangers of privatization in remediation of environmental and human disasters, and calls for an end to corporate control of funds for disaster settlements and remediation and calls for public airing of all information and actions.

The report emphasizes "the perverse calculus of corporate risk-taking, which undervalues human life."

The report may be downloaded in English, Portuguese and Spanish.

Statement-International Independent Commission of Inquiry- the Impact of the Brumadinho Dam Collapse

For Statement in Portuguese, click on Reports tab at the top of this page

Earlier this year, unions representing workers at the Vale Córrego do Feijão iron mine (SITICOP MG, Sindicato Metabase Brumadinho and Rede Nacional de Barragens from ICM) reached out to the International Commission for Labor Rights (ICLR) for assistance in addressing the impact of the dam collapse in Brumadinho, Minas Gerais. The ICLR contacted several organizations of human rights attorneys and with their support and assistance, created the International Independent Commission of Inquiry into the Impact of the Brumadinho Dam Collapse.

The focus of the inquiry is on the consequences of the dam collapse and ways to prevent future dam collapses.

The Independent Commission began its work on July 27, 2019. In the days since we arrived, we have taken the testimony of many people impacted by the dam collapse. This includes family members of workers killed; family members of community residents killed; workers and community members who survived the event; indigenous people; leaders and members of unions and religious organizations and social movements; and public officials. We visited the community of Córrego do Feijão, the community most directly impacted by the dam collapse. We testified for the Committee of Parliamentary Inquiry (CPI) of the Minas Gerais legislature and spoke with the rapporteur of the CPI for the federal Chamber of Deputies.

We heard from many stakeholders that the dam collapse was predictable and preventable. We were told that there were many signs that pointed toward the collapse but were not acted upon adequately to prevent the tragedy from occurring. A predictable and preventable dam collapse cannot be called an “accident”.

On January 25th, the dam collapse killed 247 people, and 23 more are considered missing, for 270 people in total. We heard testimony that January 25th was only the beginning of what will be a very long period of damage to families, to communities, and to the ecology and economy of the region.

And we heard that fear that other dams will collapse grips tens of thousands of residents of Minas Gerais, and it is vitally important to take steps promptly to eliminate this threat.

We make the following preliminary findings and recommendations, implementation of which must be centered on the needs of the affected communities.

Our findings and recommendations are guided by four principles: Justice, Independence, Transparency, and Prevention and Deterrence.

1. Justice
The workers and community residents killed by this event did not cause it. Nor did the workers and community residents who survived.

There is no question that Vale, the owner of the mine, has responsibility for the consequences of this event. There are investigations underway that may determine that other corporations share responsibility. The causes of the dam collapse and the apportionment of responsibility are not the focus of this inquiry.

In order to obtain justice, Vale and other responsible parties must completely indemnify all victims of this event. This includes:
• families of people killed
• survivors of the event, including direct and outsourced workers that survived and have been mistreated by Vale
• people whose ways of life were disrupted or damaged by the event
• people whose economic well-being was disrupted or damaged by the event

The survivors and the communities must be treated with dignity and respect. Unfortunately, from the testimonies we heard, Vale has failed in this regard. A common refrain from the impacted people and communities was that Vale never provided information about the loss of their loved ones, or even contacted them, that no one from Vale management expressed any form of condolence to the families’ for their loss, that the families were never allowed to express their pain to anyone from Vale, that workers who had devoted their lives to Vale and were proud to wear the Vale shirt were disrespected by Vale, that they only met with families after six months, and only after protests from families of survivors did Vale agree to provide some form of apology.

In addition, Vale and other responsible parties must pay for all necessary environmental remediation and other costs of the event.

Finally, these payments must be made promptly. Justice delayed is justice denied.

2. Independence
By definition, Vale and other responsible parties have a conflict of interest. It is in the interest of their shareholders to limit their costs. Decisions that must be made independently of Vale include:
• Who is indemnified because they suffered damage
• The amount of indemnification
• The necessity, type and extent of environmental clean-up
In addition, studies done to measure the extent and effect of contamination on the environment must be made by scientists independent of Vale, although Vale and other responsible parties must bear all of these costs.

3. Transparency
The dam collapse is a public event potentially affecting more than 100,000 people from all parts of civil society. For its consequences to be addressed fairly, it is important that the response be open for all to see and evaluate. This means that all offers, calculations, studies, settlements and other activities be done transparently, with the details made public.

4. Prevention and Deterrence
This is the second dam collapse in Minas involving a Vale dam in 3 years. There are many more similar dams in Minas, and it is imperative that steps are taken immediately to prevent future collapses.
First, a thorough independent investigation into the Brumadinho dam collapse must be completed, so that the lessons can be applied to prevent the same tragedy from re-occurring.
Second, all dams in Minas must be enrolled in an ongoing independent auditing program to monitor their structural integrity and make any repairs necessary.
All laws that require monitoring of other dams, especially upstream dams, must be strictly enforced.

Any gaps in Brazilian Law which allow any safety issues to be self-regulated must be filled by appropriate legislation.

In addition, however, a program of enhanced deterrence is required to ensure that mine owners take their responsibility for protecting their workers and residents of communities near their dams. Simply paying the total costs necessary to achieve justice is not sufficient. In the event of a dam collapse, these costs are their responsibility, and there is no debate on this subject. But too many corporations build those into their operating costs. In this deadly calculus, they estimate that paying the costs of a dam collapse are less than the costs of keeping all their dams safe. This is not acceptable. The best way to prevent this is to impose a very large financial penalty on a mine owner whose dam collapses, to be paid in addition to bearing the costs of achieving justice. To have the desired effect, this penalty should be proportional to the size of the corporation, not the costs of the dam collapse.

A second effective approach to preventing dam collapses is to allow criminal penalties for members of corporate Boards of Directors whose firms’ activities kill or damage humans or the environment. It is the responsibility of directors to know what their firms are doing and to ensure that their firms’ behavior is ethical. To apply criminal penalties to boards, it should not be a requirement to show actual knowledge of the criminal behavior. This approach is now being taken in Australia, New Zealand and other countries.

This is our preliminary statement. We will prepare a full report in Portuguese and English and submit it to all relevant governmental bodies and make to available to stakeholders.
This Commission is supported by International Lawyers Assisting Workers (ILAW), the Association of Labour Lawyers of Latin America (ALAL), the Canadian Association of Labour Lawyers (CALL) and the International Association of Democratic Lawyers (IADL).

ICLR Has Moved

ICLR has just moved to a new office! Our new address is:

International Commission for Labor Rights

80 Broad Street, Suite 613A

New York, NY 10004

Our new phone number is:

212 504 2950

ICLR DELEGATION TO BURSA, TURKEY

At the request of DİSK- Birleşik Metal İş Union - ICLR sent a labor delegation to Turkey from April 18-22, 2015 to investigate the denial of the right to freedom of association of metal workers in the automobile industry in Bursa, an industrial city near Istanbul. The delegation included Ramapriya Gopalakrishnan, an Indian labor lawyer, Thomas Schmidt, the General Secretary of the European Association of Lawyers for Democracy and World Human Rights, Angela Cornell, a Cornell University law professor and Susan Adely, a U.S. labor lawyer.

The delegation interviewed workers from several manufacturing plants including two Bosch plants. The issues raised in the interviews included: (1) the inability of workers to choose a union that represents their interests because of numerous legal and employer-generated obstacles; (2) retaliation in the workplace for supporting the DISK union and for engaging in union-related activity; and (3) strike-related terminations and the inadequacy of the remedy for these firings.

During the military coup in 1980, members of DİSK- Birleşik Metal İş were transferred to another union supported by the new military regime, Turk Metal. Turk Metal, the largest union in Turkey maintains considerable support from management interests. The Turkish metal workers have struggled for years for the right to democratically choose their bargaining representatives. Turkish labor law and employer retaliation against union-related activity have undermined the ability of Turkish workers to organize and be represented by the union of their choice. Employer-supported “yellow” unions have imperiled freedom of expression. This year there have been several waves of significant strike activity in the metal sector (including in the Renault and Bosch plants) as workers have tried to more aggressively pursue union representation of their choice in the automobile sector.

The delegation held a press conference regarding its observations about violations of international labor standards and violations of Turkish law. The delegates also cited the ways in which Turkish laws regarding procedures to register unions hinder workers from exercising freedom of association. A number of Turkish newspapers carried reports of the press conference. A report of the delegation’s findings is being prepared.

Check this website for the release of the report.

ICLR Report Released: SHINY CARS, SHATTERED DREAMS

A report on precarious workers in the Chennai automobile hub, their working conditions, and the challenges they face in the exercise of their right to freedom of association, based on worker narratives together with an analysis of the legality of precarious work under national and international law.

The report studies the widespread use of precarious workers in the Chennai automobile hub in the State of Tamil Nadu in India by certain multinational auto companies and their supplier companies, and evaluates the legality of such work under international law, based on the fundamental rights model of the UDHR, as well as domestic law.

The report comes at a time when labour law reforms aimed at enhancing flexibility for employers in the manufacturing sector are on the anvil. The findings in the report establish that the need of the hour is to enhance protection for precarious workers in the manu¬facturing sector both under the law and in practice, and not to increase flexibility for employers.

The report also establishes that it not just the generation of additional jobs that matters but also the quality of employment. The findings draw attention to the urgent need to improve the conditions of employment of precarious workers. The report also underscores the need for creating a suitable climate to enable all workers in the auto sector to effectively exercise their freedom of association and collective bargaining rights.

Read Shiny Cars, Shattered Dreams here

ICLR has moved!

We have just moved into a beautiful new office at 330 West 38th Street, Suite 908, New York, NY 10018. We are sharing an office with a pioneering labor organizing group, the Laundry Workers Center.

Our new office allows us to better litigate, educate and organize for international labor rights for workers around the world!

==Stay tuned for a major report on precarious workers in the automobile industry==

ICLR Calls Upon Indian Government to Respect the Labor and Human Rights of Maruti Suzuki Workers

A fact-finding delegation convened by the International Convention for Labor Rights today released an authoritative report entitled, “Merchants of Menace: Repressing workers in India's new industrial belt, Violations of workers' and trade union rights at Maruti Suzuki India Ltd.,” which finds that Maruti Suzuki India Ltd., and the government and police of the state of Haryana violated the rights of Maruti Suzuki workers at the Manesar facility as well as the rights of their family members and supporters.

ICLR In the News! The Times of India on Release of Jailed Maruti Suzuki Workers

GURGAON: The International Commission for Labour Rights (ICLR), a New York-based non-profit organization, has demanded the "immediate release" of those arrested in the aftermath of last year's extended labour agitation at Maruti Suzuki India Limited's (MSIL) Manesar plant that culminated in the violent uprising of July 18, 2012, leaving one dead and hundreds of others injured.

In its report on the issue, the eight-member delegation, which included lawyers and activists from the United States, France, South Africa, Japan and India, has said the jailed workers should be released "to ensure that justice is not further or forever denied".

ICLR President’s Article on How Right to Work Violates the Law

ICLR President Jeanne Mirer discusses how right to work laws in the U.S. violate international law in an article, in the National Lawyers Guild Review, RIGHT TO WORK LAWS: HISTORY AND FIGHT BACK. Read the article

ICLR Issues a Letter to Michigan Legislators on Right to Work Law

The International Commission for Labor Rights (ICLR) on December 10, 2012, the 64th Anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, issued a statement which was sent to Michigan Governor Rick Snyder and all members of the Michigan Legislature outlining why right-to-work laws are illegal under human rights and labor law. The letter concludes, “ICLR believes that it is cruel irony that, on Human Rights Day, Michigan is attempting to strip basic human rights from Michigan workers.” Read the statement here.

ICLR Sends Letter to Mexican Legislature about Proposed Law Violating Labor Rights

ICLR sent a letter to all members of the House of Deputies and Senate of Mexico expressing its serious concern about the labor law “reform” proposal, being considered under the “preferential” fast track process, which it believes violates international law. The proposed law reform would dramatically curtail existing worker rights and protections, particularly the right to freedom of association. Freedom of association would be jeopardized by the proposal’s legalization of subcontracting of workers. Permitting subcontracting, as well as temporary and short term contracts for workers, severely undermines union security. Such a scheme would deny workers the right to organize, given that they would not be considered regular employees even if they worked for a company for many years. Read the letter here.